Company Town

SFX to Broaden Control of Live Entertainment Field

SFX Entertainment Inc. has agreed to buy Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Cellar Door Cos. for about $78 million in cash and $27 million in stock.

Cellar Door controls venues in two of the top 10 U.S. markets and is the "last major concert promoter they didn't already control," according to analyst Richard Greenfield of Goldman Sachs.

SFX Chairman Robert F.X. Sillerman has invested more than $1 billion in the last 1 1/2 years, acquiring firms related to the live entertainment business. Last week, SFX agreed to pay $100 million for Miami-based MagicWorks Entertainment, the top U.S. producer of live music, theater and sporting events. SFX bought Los Angeles-based Avalon Attractions, which controls the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, in May.

Greenfield said that with the Cellar Door deal, SFX will now own or operate 31 of the 37 amphitheaters in the United States.